Golfers and All America Should Be Aware

As a golfer (but not a good one ) I thought I would share this story, I have no idea where it comes from as it was sent to me.

On Monday, I played the Disney, Lake Buena Vista course. As usual the
starters matched me with three other players. After a few holes we
began to get to know each other a bit. One fellow was rather young and
had his wife riding along in the golf cart with him. I noticed that his
golf bag had his name on it and after closer inspection, it also said
"wounded war veterans". When I had my first chance to chat with him I
asked him about the bag. His response was simply that it was a gift. I
then asked if he was wounded and he said yes. When I asked more about
his injury, his response was "I'd rather not talk about it, sir".

Over a few holes I learned that he had spent the last 15 months in an
army rehabilitation hospital in San Antonio Texas . His wife moved there
to be with him and he was released from the hospital in September. He
was a rather quiet fellow; however, he did say that he wanted to get
good at golf. We had a nice round and as we became a bit more familiar
I asked him about the a brand new set of Ping woods and irons he was
playing. Some looked like they had never been hit. His response was
simple. He said that this round was the first full round he had played
with these clubs.

Later in the round he told me the following. As part of the discharge
process from the rehabilitation hospital, Ping comes in and provides
three days of golf instruction, followed by club fitting. Upon
discharge from the hospital, Ping gives each of the discharged veterans,
generally about 40 soldiers, a brand new set of custom fitted clubs
along with the impressive golf bags.

The fellow I met was named Ben Woods and he looked me in the eye and
said that being fitted for those clubs was one of the best things that
ever happened to him and he was determined to learn to play golf well
enough to deserve the gift Ping had given him. Ben is now out of the
service, medically discharged just a month ago. He is as fine a young
man as you would ever want to meet.

Ping has the good judgment not to advertise this program. God Bless
America and the game of golf.

snopes.com

It's nice to hear that some big corporations actually care about things other than filling their pockets with extra cash. It's sad that more big money corporations don't take care of our soliders and people in general. I think my next driver is going to be a Ping!

reply to post by mileslong54


After reading this story it brought a tear to my eye. It's great to hear some good news once in a while.

reply to post by mileslong54


Thank you for providing a good news story. I wish there was a news channel that played nothing but these kinds of stories. I am glad I am already a fan of ping clubs as I hit G2 irons. I will feel a lot better buying the G15's I have been eyeballing.

BTW, a tip for you. you can always keep this in your head. KYFHD. It stands for Keep Your F.... Head Down. It's the best advice I was ever given and it works to this day.

reply to post by network dude


, that's great advise, my buddy always says "just watch the ball and keep your head down, I'll watch to see where it goes"

lol put c 4 or mix gasoline with flour n egg whites( you make some kinda napalm like that) into the ball, yell FOUR! then use driver and ball on tee, with the ball lit or fused and timed detonator, and hit the ball at corporate ceo's on the golf course

reply to post by mileslong54


Do you have a link?

Peace

reply to post by Dr Love


I didn't at first, it was sent to me in email but I found the story here after searching Ben Woods Solider just now...

www.eastcobbgolf.org...

Originally posted by mileslong54
reply to post by network dude

 

, that's great advise, my buddy always says "just watch the ball and keep your head down, I'll watch to see where it goes"

if you look up, you are sure to see a bad shot. It's the hardest thing in golf to learn, but the single most rewarding tip to master. Again, thanks for posting this story.

I found this too while looking through some golf sites...

To Whom it May Concern:

"Recently, some Ping demo clubs were sent to us here at FOB Warrior, Kirkuk, Iraq. We have really enjoyed them. We have a make shift tee box that we use to hit balls out into some dead space over our fence. There really is no way to retrieve the balls since it is technically "bad guy country", but it gives us a release from the day to day operations and for a few minutes while we are hitting our two or three balls a day it allows us to forget where we are.

Keep making great products and thanks for the support."

CPT Dan Blackmon

www.americangolf.com.au...

I like the part about not retrieving balls in bad guy country!

So getting some balls and sticks makes things better for being wounded and/or risking your life ? Wow. I guess if some people take solace in this so be it, but it sounds incredibly shallow. Corporations are good for nothing but lining their own pockets. Mind you this might be a cheaper out for the government versus having to pay disability benefits.

brill

Another reason I love PING!

Currently looking for a set of gently used RH S58's!!

WOW! I find it hard to believe a major corporation is actually doing some real good in the world and then not running a billion dollar add campaign to pat themselves on the back. Good for Ping

Originally posted by brill
So getting some balls and sticks makes things better for being wounded and/or risking your life ? Wow. I guess if some people take solace in this so be it, but it sounds incredibly shallow. Corporations are good for nothing but lining their own pockets. Mind you this might be a cheaper out for the government versus having to pay disability benefits.

brill

I agree, corporations are good for nothing but knowing that one is giving back makes me want to support that company when I go out to buy my clubs. It may be a small contrabution in the eyes of some but in the eyes of those that only have sand and a machine gun it can be a beautiful thing.

reply to post by mileslong54
Why did you feel the need to disclose his full name??? As per your description of him I doubt he'd be very happy about this and I am asking you to please delete his name from your post. Please, please, please do this, OP.

reply to post by mileslong54


wow
that is crazy nice
it too bad that this kind of stuff is not that well known

Originally posted by ChrisCrikey
reply to post by mileslong54

 

Why did you feel the need to disclose his full name??? As per your description of him I doubt he'd be very happy about this and I am asking you to please delete his name from your post. Please, please, please do this, OP.

It's off site content, and the story is availible on the Ping site and other golf sites as listed above. If he didn't want his name used he would have probably said so before the story was put on all these golf sites. It's not my description of him, I think you need to check the thread again.

Great story, and it seems to be 100% legit! I googled "ping wounded warrior" and I got a gazillion hits

Honored by Marines

I was going to list a bunch of other links, but I got called out of my office, so I am just hitting reply and going back to work, LOL!

Links

Ben's Story
www.eastcobbgolf.org...
www.5feet20.com...
yourdesertblog.com...
erumors.org...
www.freegolfinfo.com...
www.electriciantalk.com...
www.snopes.com...

Ping Wounded Warriors Program
www.leatherneck.com...
www.eastvalleytribune.com...
viewfromthe14thfloor.com...

Other
www.azcentral.com...

"Ping has the good judgment not to advertise this program."

Then why say anything at all?

This reeks of advertising.

reply to post by Tharsis




I watch a lot of GolfChanel...Never heard of this, so they ain't advertising it!